My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass. Psalm 102:11
Those who are older know what it is to say, “Where did all these years go?” or “How did the years pass so quickly?” Yet, it is not just those who are older.
You lose a loved one—your father, mother, sister, brother, or close friend—and suddenly you have a new awareness of your own mortality.
You receive a diagnosis of a serious illness, and suddenly you realize the life that seemed to stretch out in front of you may be very short. “My days are like an evening shadow.”
Listen to what David says, “But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever” (102:12). Later in the same Psalm, David writes, “He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days… But you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you” (102:23, 27-28).
David could not see all that we see this side of the empty tomb, but he believed that somehow all would be well for the servants of God. In the light of the resurrection, we know why. Jesus is risen, and when the days of God’s children are shortened on earth, they shall dwell secure.
They will be established in the presence of God—living, reigning, and rejoicing with Him forever. Thomas Manton wrote: “Christ’s life was not shortened by his death, but prolonged; so shall yours be that have an interest in Christ.”
Death will not make your life shorter, but longer. It will prolong your days, because, in Christ, death will be an entrance for you into everlasting life.
What has caused you to feel your own mortality? Have you considered how, in Christ, death will make your life longer?
